Common Name
Boehlke's Goby
Year Described
Greenfield, 1993
Identification
Dorsal Fin: VII, 10-11
Anal Fin: 10
Pectoral Fin: 16-18
Caudal Fin: 17 segmented rays
Vertebrae: 11+16= 27 (total)
Body elongate with a large head that is fairly compressed. Eye large. Jaw extends beyond posterior margin of pupil. Dorsal fin with anterior spines not elongate and last two spines more spaced than the first five. Pelvic fin rays branched. Pelvic fins not fused. Two anal-fin pterygiophores anterior to the first haemal spine. Papillae rows 5i and 5s are separate. Cephalic lateralis pores absent. Head and trunk naked. Basicaudal scales absent.
Color
Body and head white to pale yellow with four rectangular lateral blotches or narrow dashes. Interspaces about the same width as blotches. Other small yellow saddles, blotches, and ocellated yellow-orange spots are scattered over the body (mostly dorsally). Head with a strong dark bar running through eye tapering under eye. Several orange to yellow streaks run horizontally back from eye onto rear of head and cheek, with a speckling of large melanophores. Snout and jaws peppered with melanophores. Cheek pinkish. Eye white with black borders. Dorsal fins with clusters of melanophores forming spot-rows but otherwise pale. Caudal fin with melanophores on upper and lower lobes. Anal fin with a median band of melanophores that expands rearward. Pectoral and pelvic fins pale.
Size
Maximum size to 27.4mm SL.
Habitat
Found within the structure of coral reefs from 12-19m.
Range
Known only from the Lesser Antilles in the S. Caribbean Sea.
References
Greenfield, D. W. 1993. New goby, Psilotris boehlkei (Pisces: Gobiidae), from the western Atlantic, with a key to the species. Copeia, 771-775.
Tornabene, L., J.L. Van Tassell, R.G. Gilmore, D.R. Robertson, F. Young, & C.C. Baldwin. 2016a. Molecular phylogeny, analysis of character evolution, and submersible collections enable a new classification of a diverse group of gobies (Teleostei: Gobiidae: Nes subgroup), including nine new species and four new genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society.
Tornabene, L., D.R. Robertson, & C.C. Baldwin. 2016b. Varicus lacerta, a new species of goby (Teleostei, Gobiidae, Gobiosomatini, Nes subgroup) from a mesophotic reef in the southern Caribbean. ZooKeys; 596, 143.